In the prior art, of which we are aware, various advertising signs, billboards or displays have been patented for use with parking meters, sign posts and the like. These displays invariably consist of an attachment for an existing meter installation. In one example, the attachment consists of a two-part hinged structure, one part being secured to the meter housing, and the other part being hinged on the one part and pivoted away to provide access to the advertising display. Like other examples, the attachment is rigidly secured to the meter housing (or other structure of the meter) by suitable internally-accessible fastening means. In another example, the attachment includes elongated straps that depend therefrom and terminate in a semi-circular collar that cooperates with a suitable clamp for rigidly securing the attachment to the column or post of the parking meter. Moreover, in most cases, the advertising display is housed in a laminated structure including transparent partitions through which the display may be viewed.
These prior art disclosures suffer from a number of inherent deficiencies and disadvantages, the most serious of which are as follows: The attachments invariably consist of an appendage to an existing meter and its installation may require some modification of the meter structure. This is inconvenient and time consuming, and besides, may detract from the future utility of the meter. The attachments are usually bulky and somewhat unwieldly. Not only does this detract from the aesthetic design qualities of the meter, but a person's clothes may catch on any clamping collars, hasps, protuberances and the like. A complicated attachment, designed to be securely mounted on the meter, may actually invite vandalism or theft of the entire attachment. Moreover, the means for changing the advertising display is often complicated, which again is time consuming, and the use of specially-designed laminated windows may tend to odscure the promotional impact of the advertising message.
As a result of these inherent deficiencies and disadvantages, the prior art disclosures (to the best of our knowledge and belief) have not been widely accepted by municipalities and hence have not been commercially successful. By the same token, there still exists a critical need for a practical and readily-acceptable low-cost advertising display means for parking meters and the like. A fulfillment of this need should unleash a massive commercial potential to be shared by sponsors, advertisers, municipalities and others.